Monthly Archives: February 2013

I started a new spinning project! It really shouldn’t be news when I start spinning a new 4oz braid of fiber… But I’ve been very neglectful of my wheel, so any activity it gets is newsworthy.

Here’s the fiber:

It was even prettier still in the braid, but I forgot to take a picture until I was a third of the way through. It is 4oz. of Targhee from Abstract Fibers in the Chocolate Rainbow colorway. Abstract Fibers are based on Oregon, so my Mom has had a lot of opportunities to buy fiber from them. This was one of my Christmas presents!

And here it is in progress:

There are blue and green underneath the pink and purple. I am going to do another Navajo 3-ply to preserve the long color repeats.

And my Vivian is almost done! I need to do some grafting, and then install the zipper and grosgrain ribbon trim. I was so excited about finishing the knitting, but that still seems like a lot to do! Here’s a silly picture that I took last night.

Of course when I finish it, I’ll have to find a new project! What are you working on?

Mods and notes: The pattern has a neat construction. It starts with the bottom ruffle which is knit sideways. Then stitches are picked up for the skirt portion. This is lace yarn held double for the skirt.

At the top of the skirt, the waistband is knit side to side, joining with the skirt stitches as you go. I had to do the waistband a couple times because the first time I thought I had memorized the pattern, and had forgotten two rows in each repeat. Then I redid it. Then I realized I was joining the waist to the skirt at the wrong ratio, and ripped it out. Then I redid it, again. And then I put it against my body and realized the waist was huge. My gauge was way off. And I wanted to make sure that the waist nipped in. I ripped it out, again. The final time I knit only 9 leaves instead of 11 leaves as called for in my size. I then made sure I remembered to pick up the right amount of bodice stitches for my size instead of accidentally making the smaller bodice.

The sleeves are knit from the bottom up separately and then joined together with the bodice for raglan decreases. The top of the garment is knit with lace weight held singly. It is a little snug in the bodice, but I am happy with it. My sleeves are shorter than in the pattern, but I think it’s just because of my gauge. I had thought the next needle up would have been a little too loose. I hope I find some uses for it! It isn’t necessarily the most useful garment. The buttons I used were little vintage buttons that Lucas’s roommate gave me for Christmas last year.

I’m also getting close on Vivian! I need to start swatching for new projects… like yesterday!

I finished something! My lace coat is all done and blocked. I put an outfit together and was going to get pictures taken today at work. And then I left my camera at home! Ugh. They’ll happen in the next day or so.

But, I did finish making all the little blocks for my quilt top! Here are most of them all arranged on my floor:

I had already picked up a couple rows off the floor before I remembered to take a picture. There was a small mistake in the pattern and I had to make four extra squares to make it work out. There was a typo that said I needed 64 of one block, though 68 are really necessary. Luckily I still had the extra cut out pieces.

I think it will take me a while to sew all 261 squares together! And now that I only have one project on the needles, I really need to start swatching for something new before I get left with nothing on the needles! FO pictures coming soon!

That’s how I feel about my knitting progress! I am steadily knitting every day, but with nothing to show for it! I used to go to my weekly SnB group and complain about having not finished anything lately, and I’d get an eyeroll from someone in the group and they’d remind me that I had just finished something a week or two ago. But this last time, I got a, “yeah, I haven’t been here in a long time and you were still working on that project the last time I saw you.” Ugh! A whole month without a Finished Object!

Here are the two knitting projects I’ve been working on:

The first is the #01 Lace Coat from Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2012. It is a potentially non-useful garment that I nonetheless decided to make. It’s kind of a long lace cardigan. The skirt is knit from lace-weight yarn doubled and the bodice and sleeves have the same yarn held singly. Here’s one progress photo:

I’m using Knit Picks Shadow in Nocturne Heather. The color is a little darker in real life. This is the top of the skirt and the waistband. I was making good progress on this until I held the skirt up against my body. The waistband was huge! It is important to me that the waist nips in. I thought about just sewing in elastic later, but thought I should do it the right way. It is an applied waistband, so it is worked across 19 stitches and attached to the live skirt stitches at every other row. I guess my gauge for the leaf pattern was way off. I ripped it out (and not for the first time…) and did 9 leaf repeats instead of 11. When I was done I just needed to remember to pick up the right amount of stitches for my bodice size! Hopefully this will start moving soon. I just have the bodice left to do, the sleeves are done and ready to be attached.

The second project I’m working on is the Vivian hoodie by Ysolda Teague. I’m using Cascado Eco in natural. It is nice working with a bulky yarn, though I am using US7 needles, so it doesn’t seem to grow as quickly as I’d like! I’ve got the body done up to the armpits and I am finishing up my first sleeve. I am probably about halfway because I have a second arm, the yoke and the hood to do still. I am following a few people’s notes on Ravelry and changing around the increases on the sleeves a bit. For many, the sleeves are too long, too tight on the forearm and too loose on the upper arm. So far mine seem a little snug, but I hope that won’t bother me later! I think the length should be okay as I have long arms, but we shall see.

I am also going to extend the hood so that it is a wearable hood size. This will be my first project where I put a zipper into my knitting! I hope it goes well!

Now I need to start looking ahead to what I will start when I have finished these. The Anthropologie group is doing a KAL for “Sweatshirt Style” so I might have to find a loose-fitting casual sweater to join in on that one. I had planned on doing a colorwork cowl soon (probably this one, but I’m surprised there’s not more hearts because I looove it), but the weather seems to be changing, so I don’t know if that is really worth doing right now. And I’ll have to start planning if I’m going to join in on the Skein After Skein Epic KAL/CAL. That’s something like a Year of Projects, so I want to make sure I don’t start something early that will count for that. They started out with it being projects from The Best of KnitScene book, but then decided to open it up beyond that. I might still try to make all my projects be from KnitScene magazines though. Oh yeah! I was a guest (along with our friend Lisa) on their podcast a couple weeks ago. Here‘s the episode. It is always a little stressful hearing your own recorded voice and I don’t know if I came off that well, but enjoy!